“The Kids in the Hall” started in 1984 and pushed the boundaries of TV comedy, with cast members in drag and sketches that tackled heavy topics, including religion and sexuality.

“I always feel I’m a better person when I play a woman,” said Montreal-born McDonald, whose other credits include the Fox sitcom “That ’70s Show.”

“I’m smarter, I’m kinder to people. So it’s always fun — besides the three-hour makeup process.”

Memorable Kids in the Hall characters have included McKinney’s Headcrusher and Chicken Lady, Thompson as the Queen, McCulloch’s Cabbage Head, and Foley and McDonald as the Sizzler Sisters.

The new series will have a “very low quotient of nostalgia,” said Foley, noting they’re “basically just pursuing new ideas and new material.”

“Are we allowed to say characters? I don’t know if we’re allowed to say,” said McDonald, to which Foley quipped: “Allowed? We don’t follow no stinking rules.”

McDonald then let it slip that Thompson’s gay socialite character Buddy Cole likely returns, as do Toronto police officers played by McCulloch and McKinney.

The new eight-episode series was shot in studio and outside locations.

The proliferation of short comedy sketches on social media platforms including TikTok didn’t influence the length of their material, they said, noting a sketch comedy show should be short anyway.

“This is going to shock you: I’ve never looked at TikTok,” said Foley, to which McDonald said he hadn’t either.

The Kids continued to collaborate after the original series ended, reuniting for the 1996 comedy film “Brain Candy,” several tours and the 2010 CBC miniseries “Death Comes to Town.”

But, as Paul Myers wrote in his 2018 book “The Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy,” it wasn’t always friendly.

Myers said Foley and McDonald sometimes fought with McKinney and McCulloch, while Thompson was a mediator of sorts. Foley once quit the troupe, resulting in tension on the set of “Brain Candy.”

But since 2000, they happily get together every three or four years to do something, says McDonald, likening their run now to “a B-movie version of Monty Python’s career.”

“I refer to it not as a reunion but a relapse,” jested Toronto-raised Foley, whose other credits include the series “NewsRadio,” “Hot in Cleveland” and “Celebrity Poker Showdown.”

“Yes. It’s a relapse. In a way, we’re drinking again and it feels good,” added McDonald.

“In between those three or four years, I look forward to it all the time. And I’m never disappointed. I’m always thinking ‘Oh, we’re funny. Oh, we love and get mad at each other the same way that we always do.'”

As long as there are no mirrors in the room, they always feel like they’re still “angry 20-year-old comedians,” said Foley.

McDonald agreed.

“Even when we’re about to look at the editing and I’m about to see a scene with Dave and I, I imagine I’m going to see skinny, crazy-haired Kevin and young Dave — and I always get shocked,” added McDonald. “I’m still always shocked when I see footage of us and we don’t look like we did.”

Said Foley: “Because we still act like we did.”

-With files from Sadaf Ahsan

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2022.

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press

A close friend and fellow musician says Cree country singer Shane Yellowbird has died at the age of 42.

Blues and country artist Crystal Shawanda, who met Yellowbird in 2008, says he died earlier this week.

She says she spoke with his sister, who confirmed the Alberta singer’s death, but did not say how he died

Shawanda says Yellowbird was like a brother to her and always supported her career.

Yellowbird, best known for the song “Pickup Truck,” won the Rising Star Award at the Canadian Country Music Awards in 2007.

She says he was a trailblazer to Indigenous country music singers and was nominated for a Juno Award for country recording of the year in 2008 for “Life Is My Calling Name.”

“What he accomplished is huge,” Shawanda said Tuesday. “No male Indigenous country music artist has yet to do what he has done.”

Shawanda said Yellowbird was also a gifted artist.

“He will be remembered for what a good heart he had,” she said. “He was as good as they come.”

Shawanda said she lost touch with Yellowbird over the last few years after she switched from country music to blues.

But she said whenever they would go a while without speaking, it was as if no time had passed when they reconnected.

Louis O’Reilly, who signed Yellowbird to his record label in 2003 and worked with him until 2013, said Yellowbird was “authentic through and through.”

He said he was a “real cowboy” who always stayed humble.

“He will be remembered for his humility,” O’Reilly said of the musician from Maskwacis, Alta.

“He was grateful for everything he had.”

O’Reilly said Yellowbird was revered in Indigenous communities for his success in country music.

Others in the industry also paid tribute to Yellowbird on social media.

“He always believed in me as an artist and songwriter, long before a lot of people. A truly beautiful soul,” wrote country artist Aaron Goodvin on Instagram.

Aaron Pritchett said, “You will be missed by so many, buddy.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2022.

Daniela Germano, The Canadian Press